I have a Teac A 3340S that don't record or records real low and doesn't seem to erase the tape. Was wondering if there is anyone in Huntington/Ashland area that works on them. I enjoy listening to reel to reel and vinyl but do not know much about working on them and don't want to tear something up. Any help greatly appreciated.

Hi Everyone.
I am new here, and I need your help. I just bought the A-3340s and came up with a problem. Whenever I hit play button, the machine does not play, instead it goes fast forward. To make it play, I have to push up the pinch roller a little to help the pinch roller and capstan come together, then it plays. Is it an easy fix or do I need to bring it to the technician.
Thanks,
Calvin

Hi Everyone.
I am new here, and I need your help. I just bought the A-3340s and came up with a problem. Whenever I hit play button, the machine does not play, instead it goes fast forward. To make it play, I have to push up the pinch roller a little to help the pinch roller and capstan come together, then it plays. Is it an easy fix or do I need to bring it to the technician.
Thanks,
Calvin

Sorry I don't have hands on experience with this perticular model.
But the problem description suggest the pinch roller mechanism needs some lubrication to make it travel easier or a pressure adjustment problem.

those units are prone to have the p/r arm freeze up. you will need to remove the arm from inside and clean all the old grease from the arm and the pivot bar it sits on. put alittle oil on the arm and pin when you put it back together. this will solve your problem of no play. russ

Originally they used a grease on the Pinch Roller linkage and so I prefer to stay with what they used substance wise but of course as I have said before use Lubriplate 105 grease which I have used for many years without any problems.
I also advise people to loosen the solenoid fork on the plunger otherwise your Pinch Roller pressure will be upset when you loosen the solenoid from it's mount. It takes a few more minutes and some right angle tools but the result will save you from having to get a $70 Bike scale or fish spring scale and doing the 30-40 minute solenoid pressure adjustment.

The record problem can be from a number of areas but one area I often check right away is the switches under the head cover- these have all function going through them and the switches if hit can break the sync board and then the technician is going to have to resolve that. I have had many problems reported and that is one place I go to right off.Of course as Leon is fond of saying clean the heads- dirty heads even a tiny spec of stubborn oxide can separate tape from gap and give poor results in recording. You might also have to Deoxit spray the record switches and Bias EQ swithces. Older machines can have a lot of problems- I had one in three times and it was resoled by changing
all the capacitors on two of the 4 cards in the deck for those channels. There are 8 cards in a A3340S. I have also been told that wiskers cause
the variable Bias caps to short- and these are like metal slivers that short the cap by their presence. These machines are made of metal so it is possible.

Hi Calvin,
The Pinch Roller comes off, the bearing dust cap unscrews, the rear cover comes off and the Thrust plate is removed from the back of the flywheel. Then the flywheel and belt comes off with some hex allen wrench. Now the retaining U piece is removed from the back of the capstan bearing. Now keep all the screws for that bearing in position order- two longer screw go into the U piece while the shorter one goes in the the bearing mount by itself. This allows you to clean the bearing or old oil and to place new oil into it. Take the two screws out of the bracket that is adjacent to the Solenoid Plunger. You might need a Right angle type driver. Most Wrench sets have one of these. You may have to press into the screw hard to get it to release as the lacquer they put on it. Next take the screw loose on the top upper right of the microswitches. Loosen but do not take out the screw at bottom. Swing switches to the left and tighten lightly the bottom screw. This effectively get that center spacer back out of the way. Now is the time to grab the link that the Pinch Roller was on from the back and pull back and it should slide off the shaft. If it is on real tight I have used a BIC lighter to heat the shaft of the linkage so that the item will release. The shaft and linkage should be cleaned out with alcohol- I use denatured. The shaft to the front plate need to be solid not turning. If it is turning tighten it and place some locktite or lacquer at the shaft and face plate to get it to stay solid. There is just a countersunk screw on the other side. The Linkage is suppose to rotate on the shaft not the shaft with the linkage. That is why grease is used in the linkage and on the shaft. Also clean old grease from the lifters and arms as that make contact with the Pinch Roller Linkage- when the Pinch roller goes up so do the lifters- make sure this happens when you put it back together. Also there is a plastic stop underneath the microswitches. The cylinder that touches the microswitch plungers needs to stop at the 9 o'clock position or three o'clock while looking at front. This seems like a lot of complicated work but once you have done one they go a lot easier after that. It is a good time to take off the capstan motor, clean the pulley and oil both sides directly. I also clean the fan at this time too and install a capstan belt if it is needed. I put some grease on the cylinder where the switch plungers touch to keep noise down and allow the arm to move smoothly. grease under the spring will also take that spring noise away. When putting the flywheel back on do not tighten he lock nuts. Put the thrust plate back on all the way- add grease to the rear red paper where capstan bearing might touch. The nuts are tighten when the capstan shaft is pushed all the way back and then pulled forward about 1.5mm. This is called the capstan front to back play and results in longer bearings wear. There is also a nylon washer to watch out for when you extract the shaft from the flywheel. It is there to space the flywheel from the bearing and it needs to go back between them or mechanical noise will result. Once the oil is on the bearing they will stick there themselves but when the oil is died up they can fall down into the audio cards. Oil the Pinch Roller bearing when putting it back on and all should work like new.Don't close until the pinch roller goes up- push by hand and the lifters go up also. If they do not then it is put together wrong. The job can take less than an hour once you have the process down and parts in hand.
I have done hundreds of them.
If you have trouble let me know,

Hi Sam,
I will print the page you explained and put it in front of me before I start. I am a little scare right now. Hopefully I will have enough courage to start working on it sometimes next week. I will let you know the result. I wish you are in Southern California.
Thanks for the very clear explanation Sam.
Calvin

Hi Calvin,
This is one of the more simple items to take care of. Proceed carefully and with the knowledge that there are two Teac trained Technicians here that can help you. Often times fear of this stuff is unfounded as it is just a simple removal of a bunch or mechanical parts and cleaning them and then applying either grease or oil to parts and to put them back together again in the same way that they were. Getting belts in a kit from Marrs might get you the part in hand.
One thing to NOT ever do with this model is to let it lay on it's face. The Sync switches will never take the weight and will leave you looking for a sync PCB.
If one was to have to put the unit on it's face, a support structure should be made with wood to keep the Sync switches from making contact or being pushed on. I do these most of the time sitting upright.
If you are careful to collect all nylon special washers on Pinch Roller and on capstan shaft from between flywheel and capstan bearing you will be not looking for those. I have them here but they are not cheap having been made from special thin material and in less than 2000 piece quantity.

Hi tapeheads members,
This morning with Sam encouragement, I started working on my Teac a3340s. After almost two hours included 40 mins to go to Home Depot to find the right tool, the project finished successfully.
I would like to thank you everybody, especially Sam for your support.
This is a great thread and i am glad to be a member.
Thanks,
Calvin

Hi Sam,
Yesterday I tried to record on my Teac and figured out it did not work. My VU meter does not move at all when I switch to source. It was working properly before I fix the pinch roller problem. I did not do any recording after fixing the pinch roller until yesterday. Is it an easy fix? The machine is still playing perfectly just not record. I already check the cable connecting from my preamp to the Teac.
Thanks,
Calvin

Two things can stop recording. One is the sync switches on the head block. If they are in sync mode as in turned to the right the deck will not record on that track as the play off the record head is set. These sync switches normally are set for the left position. Next as working on the linkage, there is a small board that sticks up in the rear- this is the Bias Oscillator- if wire broke off or it was damaged then again no record. When I get a no record issue I first look at the heads to see if they are clean- too many times they are not which is the problem and then if that is not it the scope probe is brought near the head PCB to see if the Bias Oscillator is coming on. The erase head gets the full tilt signal so it will be found there without touching the terminals. If nothing there, clean all record enable switches with Deoxit and exercise them. Also then clean all sync switches as well with Deoxit and Exercise them. Look for cracks on the sync board. If you put the deck on it face during service without protecting the sync switches and board- that board will crack and cause all kinds of issue as all signals go through that board. Other than that it is time to see a Technician.

Hi Sam.
Thanks for a quick reply. The Teac stood upright when I fix the pinch roller, so broken parts can be ignore in my case. I will look at the head cleaning first then i will check the stick up board to see if any losen or broken wire. If not, i think i have to find a technician near my area for service.
Thanks,
Calvin